What’s Happening in Space Policy May 27-June 8, 2018

Here is SpacePolicyOnline.com’s list of space policy events for the next TWO weeks, May 27-June 8, 2018. The House and Senate are in recess this coming week. The Senate returns to work for legislative business on June 4; the House on June 5.

During the Weeks

This is Memorial Day weekend here in the States, with the federal holiday tomorrow (Monday). Government offices and many businesses will be closed.

It’s the unofficial kickoff of summer and just about everyone uses this week to relax a bit, and, after the end of the ISDC 2018 conference later today, there is only one U.S. space policy event on our calendar this week: a 1-hour telecon meeting of NASA’s Earth Science Advisory Committee on Tuesday. There are some interesting conferences in Europe, though, including SPACEOPS 2018 in Marseille, the Interplanetary Cubesat Workshop (iCubeSat) in Paris, and the 4S small satellite conference in Sorrento.

The National Symphony Orchestra Pops will celebrate NASA’s 60th birthday next weekend with performances on Friday and Saturday nights entitled “Space: The Next Frontier.” They are at the Kennedy Center here in D.C. and a free post-concert party will follow Friday’s performance. (NASA’s actual 60th birthday is either July 29, the date the law was signed, or October 1, the day the agency opened its doors, depending on one’s point of view).

This week is but a brief respite, though. The congressional committees have not announced their schedules for the week of June 4 yet, but there’s plenty going on elsewhere, starting with an International Space Station (ISS) crew rotation. Three crew members will come home on June 3 and their replacements will launch on June 6 and take the 2-day trajectory, arriving at ISS on June 8.

Last month, the Secure World Foundation (SWF) and the Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) issued separate assessments of global counterspace capabilities. On June 5, they will team up to jointly discuss their reports at CSIS headquarters in Washington, DC. Be sure to register in advance.

On June 8, the Aerospace Corporation is holding a seminar on Emerging Issues in Space Technology on Capitol Hill that will address how to use technology in innovative ways to tackle problems like space traffic management. It is from 10:00-12:00 ET in the Rayburn building and if one hurries, one can race across the street to the Capitol Visitor Center to hear Rep. John Culberson speak to the Space Transportation Association (STA) afterwards. That’s from 11:30-1:00 ET, but usually 11:30-12:00 is networking and the talk begins at noon. Not always, but usually. Culberson chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA and NOAA and is extremely knowledgeable about and supportive of planetary exploration, especially the solar system’s Ocean Worlds. Jupiter’s moon Europa is his favorite.

Those and other events we know about as of Sunday morning, May 27, are shown below. Check back throughout the weeks for others that we learn about later and add to our calendar.

Last Updated: May 27, 2018 2:35 pm ET

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